Letter to the Editor: Remembering Slavery

In our history there is a memory, It is a memory of a dark tragic time. It is the memory of slavery.

The slaves' crime was that they were captured.

Upon this abuse was heaped the horrible idea that it was a sin to be black. The chains that hung upon their bodies were also upon their minds.

In point of fact it was sometimes considered a sin to be any color other than white or to be poor and white.

It would be horrendous to imagine this today in the year 2004 in the United States and yet this is what is happening.

The law is being used to compare a list of felon names with a list of voters who have never been in jail. Middle initial, state of birth, first name (beyond first four letters) and even release date do not need to match in order for the voter's name to be stricken from the record.

It's one thing for people to get on the nightly news and crow about how they have saved so many lives in Florida by shouting 'Run' every time a hurricane blows through, It is quite another for them to revive Jim Crow laws (so called after a black character in Minstrel shows).

In our history there is also bright light. All men are created equal. Let it shine.